Notwithstanding the proliferation of other types of communications media, such as optical fiber, metallic cable is still widely used by telecommunications carriers for transmitting data and voice information. Much of the metallic cable in use comprises multiple pairs of individual metallic conductors (i.e., copper), each sheathed by an insulative jacket, typically made of plastic or the like. The individual conductors are collectively sheathed by an outer insulative jacket, also made from plastic or the like. Depending on the environment in which the cable is to operate, an armor layer may be provided about the outer insulative jacket.
In order to terminate each end of such a multiconductor, a portion of the outer insulative jacket (and the armor layer, if present) must be stripped away so that the individual conductors are exposed. In the past, removal of the insulative outer jacket and the armor layer was accomplished by first slitting both the outer jacket and armor layer to enable them to be severed proximate the end of the cable to be terminated. Thereafter, the severed portion of the outer jacket and armor layer were removed, typically by manually grasping and then pulling them off the cable.
The disadvantage of this approach is that unless extreme care is taken, an operator can easily slit not only the outer jacket and armor layer but the insulative jacket sheathing one or more of the individual conductors. Moreover, the task of pulling off the outer insulative jacket and armor layer is often difficult to accomplish by hand, especially when the cable contains a large number of conductor pairs. To pull off a long length of the outer insulative jacket and armor layer of a cable containing a large number of individual conductors, the outer insulative jacket and the armor layer must be slit at regular intervals, thus increasing the risk that the insulation on one of the individual conductors may be inadvertently slit as well.
In an effort to overcome the difficulties associated with manually stripping a cable, different types of wire stripping devices have been developed. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,880,635, 3,892,145, 3,951,016 and 4,345,361. For the most part, the wire strippers of the prior art have been large, mechanically complex devices, best suited for use in a factory environment. Yet there is often a great need to strip a multiconductor cable in the field during installation of a piece of electronic equipment.
Thus there is a need for a wire-stripping apparatus that can be readily used in the field for stripping the outer insulative jacket (and the armor layer, if present) from a multiconductor cable.